[비즈한국] It has been confirmed that Bukwang Pharmaceutical003000, an affiliate of OCI Group, has ultimately abandoned clinical trials for its prostate cancer drug, ‘SOL-804.’ Bukwang Pharmaceutical also liquidated Dyna Therapeutics, the subsidiary responsible for SOL-804 research, in October of last year.
Dyna Therapeutics is a pharmaceutical research company established in 2016. It focused exclusively on SOL-804 research and conducted no other business activities. Dyna Therapeutics licensed the technology from Denmark’s Solural Pharma in 2018 to begin development of SOL-804. It obtained a composition patent for SOL-804 in Japan in 2020 and received approval from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (MFDS) for a Phase 1 clinical trial of SOL-804 in 2021.
In March 2022, Bukwang Pharmaceutical announced, “We have confirmed meaningful results in the Phase 1 clinical trial of SOL-804,” adding that “compared to the existing drug Zytiga, we were able to confirm significant pharmacokinetic properties even when using a lower dose.”
However, that was the extent of it. Since then, no news about the completion of the Phase 1 clinical trial for SOL-804 was heard. In the meantime, the financial health of Dyna Therapeutics deteriorated, falling into capital impairment starting in 2022.
Bukwang Pharmaceutical had provided 3.5 billion won in funding to Dyna Therapeutics through a capital increase in 2022. However, there was no further significant support afterward. Bukwang Pharmaceutical itself has had poor recent performance and lacked the capacity to provide additional support to Dyna Therapeutics. Bukwang Pharmaceutical recorded an operating loss of 37.5 billion won in 2023. While it turned a profit with 1.6 billion won in operating profit in 2024, it is difficult to consider that profit margin significant.
In the pharmaceutical industry, there were once rumors that Bukwang Pharmaceutical would pursue follow-up clinical trials for SOL-804. Ultimately, however, it abandoned the clinical trials for SOL-804 and liquidated Dyna Therapeutics. A Bukwang Pharmaceutical representative stated, “After internal deliberation, we concluded that it was right to abandon SOL-804, and consequently, we proceeded with the liquidation of Dyna Therapeutics.”